aBOUT THE FILM
SYNOPSIS:
Things are not always as they appear, especially in the case of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Child Abuse, mental illness, and forbidden love converge in this mystery involving a mother and daughter who were thought to be living a fairy tale life that turned out to be a living nightmare.
What starts out as a grisly tale of matricide morphs into a rabbit hole of deception and unrelenting abuse, journeying towards the truth about what happened that night. Featuring exclusive access to Gypsy from prison and a trove of police interrogation tapes, medical records, and secret conversations, this HBO Documentary Film is a disturbing, first-hand look at a life arrested and the consequences of trying to keep someone young forever.
AN HBO DOCUMENTARY FILM.
Courtesy of HBO Documentary Films
"TV's infatuation with true crime can be traced to "Making a Murderer" and "The Jinx," but precious little rises to that level. HBO scales those heights and then some with "Mommy Dead and Dearest," a twisted and twisty documentary that's as unsettling as it is absorbing." brian lowry for cnn.
"HBO’S MOMMY DEAD AND DEAREST IS A PERFECT STORM OF TRUE CRIME, PAGEANTRY, AND SOUTHERN GOTHIC TROPES. THIS IS A STORY THAT NEEDS TO BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED. a must-watch for any fan of true crime." Aja Romano for vox.
"SOME TRUE-CRIME DOCUMENTARIES HAVE TO EMBELLISH AND OVERSTATE TO JUSTIFY GIVING SO MUCH ATTENTION TO A GARDEN-VARIETY CRIMINAL CASE. NOT “MOMMY DEAD AND DEAREST,” WHICH HAS ITS PREMIERE MONDAY NIGHT ON HBO. THE STRANGENESS OF THIS KILLING SPEAKS FOR ITSELF, AND THE DIRECTOR, ERIN LEE CARR, LARGELY JUST LETS IT DO SO. neil genzlinger for the new york times.
The crime at the center of Mommy Dead and Dearest may be scandalous and intriguing, but the documentary’s take on its subject always remains human. kayla cobb for decider.
"With a clear eye for the bizarre twists, absurdities and horrors that shape a tabloid story, filmmaker Erin Lee Carr is concerned first and foremost with that story’s real-life characters. Mommy Dead and Dearest gathers many voices to explain how, in the case of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s ballyhooed bond, loving togetherness was in fact a sociopathic stranglehold." sherri lindin for the hollywood reporter.
Mommy Dead and Dearest examines a case of such unlikely twists and turns that it would be nearly impossible to follow if not for director Erin Lee Carr’s fastidious and sound reporting. Through family interviews, home videos, medical records, police interrogation footage ... Mommy Dead and Dearest reveals an astonishing amount of access to a case more shocking and unnerving than the best fiction has to offer. This feels like a Gillian Flynn novel – Sharp Objects, specifically – but it’s real, and it’s worse." meredith borders for birth. movies. death.
available on:
hbo
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hbo now
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CREDITS
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: ERIN LEE CARR
PRODUCER: ANDREW ROSSI
EDITOR: ANDREW COFFMAN
CO-PRODUCER: ALISON BYRNE
C0-PRODUCER: ANDREW COFFMAN
ORIGINAL MUSIC: IAN HULTQUIST
DIRECTOR OF CINEMATOGRAPHY: BRYAN SARKINEN
FIELD PRODUCER: CORA ENGELBRECHT
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: MARIELLE OLENTINE
FOR HBO
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: SHEILA NEVINS
SUPERVISING PRODUCER: SARA BERNSTEIN
Our gratitude to Gypsy Rose and the Blanchard family for their participation.
press
Please contact Donna Daniels for press inquiries at ddaniels at danielsmurphy dot com
the film
Have questions about the movie? erinleecarr at gmail dot com.
GYPSY
Gypsy Rose currently resides at Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri. She enjoys mail and warm words.